The Rock (1996) quotes
Director
Michael Bay.
A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco.
Are you sure you’re ready for this?
– John Mason
I’ll do my best.
– Stanley Goodspeed
Your “best”! Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen.
– John Mason
Carla was the prom queen.
– Stanley Goodspeed
Really?
– John Mason
Yeah.
– Stanley Goodspeed
Did they bother to tell you who I am and why I’m doing this or are they just using you like they do everybody else?
– General Hummel
All I know is that you were big in Vietnam, I saw the highlights on television.
– John Mason
Then you probably have no idea what it means to lead some of the finest men on God’s earth into combat and then watch their memories get betrayed by their own fucking government.
– General Hummel
I don’t quite see how you cherish the memory of the dead by killing another million. And, this is not combat, it’s an act of lunacy, General Sir. Personally, I think you’re a fucking idiot.
– John Mason
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson.
– General Hummel
“Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious,” according to Oscar Wilde.
– John Mason
Thank you for making my point.
– John Mason
Where are the guidance chips?
– General Hummel
WHERE ARE THE GUIDANCE CHIPS?
– General Hummel
I’ve destroyed them.
– John Mason
That was a bad move, soldier.
– General Hummel
Listen, I think we got started off on the wrong foot. Stan Goodspeed, FBl. Uh – Let’s talk music. Do you like the Elton John song, “Rocket Man”?
– Stanley Goodspeed
I don’t like soft-ass shit.
– Captain Darrow
Oh, you – Oh, oh. Oh. Well, I only bring it up because, uh, it’s you. You’re the Rocket Man.
– Stanley Goodspeed
You’ve been around a lot of corpses. Is that normal?
– Stanley Goodspeed
What, the feet thing?
– John Mason
Yeah, the feet thing.
– Stanley Goodspeed
Yeah, it happens.
– John Mason
Well I’m having a hard time concentrating. Can you do something about it?
– Stanley Goodspeed
Like what, kill him again?
– John Mason
Womack! Why am I not surprised, you piece of shit!
– John Mason
Remember Operation Desert Storm? Those surgical hits made by our smart bombs that were covered so well on CNN? It was my men on the ground that made those hits possible by lazing the targets. Twenty of those men were left to rot outside Baghdad after the conflict ended. No benefits were paid to their families. No medals conferred. These men died for their country and they weren’t even given a goddamn military burial. This situation is unacceptable. You will transfer one hundred million dollars from Grand Cayman Red Sea trading company to an account I designate. From these funds, one million dollars will be paid to each of the eighty-three marines’ families. The rest of the funds, I will disperse at my discretion. Do I make myself clear?
– General Hummel
Except for the Red Sea Trading Company. What is that?
– Womack
Identify yourself.
– General Hummel
This is FBI Director Womack, General.
– Womack
It’s a slush-fund where the Pentagon keeps proceeds from illegal arms deals…
– General Hummel
Jesus, Frank, this is classified information!
– General Al Kramer
You alert the media, I launch the gas. You refuse payment, I launch the gas. You’ve got forty hours, until noon, day after tomorrow, to arrange transfer of the money. I am aware of your countermeasure. You know and I know it doesn’t stand a chance. Hummel from Alcatraz, out.
– General Hummel
Just clippers, no scissors.
– FBI Director Womack
No scissors, you’ve got to be kidding me, no scissors. I mean, did they tell Picasso “no brush”?
– Paul the Hotel Barber
With scissors, this man could kill you.
– FBI Director Womack
I can’t cut off anyone’s balls with a trimmer, now can I? Why don’t we do this outside? Get some sun.
– John Mason
Major Anderson, if you have any concern for the lives of your men, you will order them to safety their weapons and place them on the deck.
– General Hummel
This is not happening…
– Agent Paxton
Sir, we know why you’re out here. God knows, I agree with you. But like you, I swore to defend this country against all enemies, foreign, sir… and domestic. General, we’ve spilled the same blood in the same mud. And you know god damn well I can’t give that order.
– Commander Anderson
We’re dead!
– Navy SEAL
Your unit is covered from an elevated position, Commander. I’m not gonna ask you again. Don’t do anything stupid. No-one has to die here.
– General Hummel
You men following the General: you’re under oath as United States Marines, have you forgotten that? We all have shipmates we remember, some of them were shit on and pissed on by the Pentagon. But that doesn’t give you the right to mutiny!
– Commander Anderson
You call it what you want! You’re down there, we’re up here! You walked into the wrong goddamn room, Commander!
– General Hummel
Look, I’m just a biochemist. Most of the time, I work in a little glass jar and lead a very uneventful life. I drive a Volvo, a beige one. But what I’m dealing with here is one of the most deadly substances the earth has ever known, so what say you cut me some FRIGGIN’ SLACK?
– Stanley Goodspeed
You enjoying this?
– Stanley Goodspeed
Well, it’s certainly more enjoyable than my average day… reading philosophy, avoiding gang rape in the washrooms… though, it’s less of a problem these days. Maybe I’m losing my sex appeal.
– John Mason
Mr. Mason, I’m Special Agent-in-Charge Ernest Paxton.
– Agent Paxton
In charge of what? Fucking me over for another three decades?
– John Mason
I don’t know anything about your previous matters. We’ve brought you here because there’s a situation that we think you can help us with.
– Agent Paxton
And what might that be? I’ve been in jail longer than Nelson Mandela, so maybe you want me to run for president.
– John Mason
What do you know about V.X. gas?
– FBI Director Womack
Liquid; failed pesticide; discovered by mistake in 1952. Uhh, actually, it’s kind of like champagne that way. The Franciscan monks thought they were making white wine. Somehow the bottle carbonated. Voila, champagne, and uhh, then the whole thing…
– Dr. Stanley Goodspeed
The gas, Dr. Goodspeed.
– FBI Director Womack
It’s very, very horrible sir. It’s one of those things we wish we could disinvent. This isn’t a training exercise, is it?
– Dr. Stanley Goodspeed
Southern China? We’ve never even admitted we sent troops into China.
– Chief of Staff Hayden Sinclair
Who is this? Identify yourself!
– General Hummel
White House Chief of Staff Hayden Sinclair, General.
– Chief of Staff Hayden Sinclair
How OLD are you Mr. Sinclair?
– General Hummel
I’m 33.
– Chief of Staff Hayden Sinclair
Well Mr. Sinclair, you’ve probably got no FUCKING idea what I’m talking about! By your 9th birthday, I was running BlackOps into China and my men were responsible for over two-hundred enemy kills. Now someone put some rigging tape over Mr. Sinclair’s mouth, he’s wasting my time!
– General Hummel
Excuse me, general… but what about the fucking money?
– Captain Darrow
There is no fucking money. The mission’s over.
– General Hummel
Bullshit it’s over!
– Captain Frye
You’re talking to a General, soldier! Maintain discipline.
– Major Tom Baxter
I’m not a soldier, Major. The day we took hostages, we became mercenaries. And mercenaries get paid. I want my FUCKING money!
– Captain Darrow
I thought you weren’t ready to kill.
– Major Tom Baxter
I’m warmin’ up.
– General Hummel
You didn’t mean what you just said, did you?
– Carla
When?
– Stanley Goodspeed
Just right now, when you were talking about bringing a child into the world, and having it be an act of cruelty.
– Carla
I meant it at the time.
– Stanley Goodspeed
Stanley, “at the time”? You said it seven and a half seconds ago!
– Carla
Well… gosh, kind of a lot’s happened since then.
– Stanley Goodspeed
English prick. I tell you my old man was Irish?
– Private Cox
Glass or plastic, glass or plastic?
– Stanley Goodspeed
I want a suite, a shower, a shave, the feel of a suit.
– John Mason
May I also suggest a haircut?
– Stanley Goodspeed
Am I out of style?
– John Mason
Unless you’re a 20 year old guitarist from Seattle. It’s a grunge thing.
– Stanley Goodspeed
Thank you very fucking much Mr. Mason, you’ve led us into a room with no exit.
– Commander Anderson
You’re shooting too close to the rocket! Him, but not the rocket!
– Stanley Goodspeed
Any other news, professor?
– John Mason
I love pressure. I eat it for breakfast.
– Stanley Goodspeed
Why didn’t you just tell them where the microfilm was and create a solution?
– Stanley Goodspeed
The moment they had the microfilm, they’d suicide me. Some solution.
– John Mason
Well, I’m one of those fortunate people who like my job, sir. Got my first chemistry set when I was seven, blew my eyebrows off, we never saw the cat again, been into it ever since.
– Stanley Goodspeed
Ladies and gentlemen, you’re being detained against your will, and for that I apologize. It is not our intention in any way to harm you, you will not be detained one minute longer than is necessary for us to complete our mission.
– General Hummel
I’ll take pleasure in guttin’ you, boy!
– Private McCoy
You mean I’m going out there, under the water?
– Stanley Goodspeed
Well earlier today you wanted a gun. Now you’re getting a gun and a wet suit.
– Womack
In my day, we did it all with a snorkel and a pair of flippers.
– John Mason
How do ya like how that shit works?
– Stanley Goodspeed
Damn it! This sucks! Where’s that son-of-a-bitch now? I’m gonna hunt him down! That motherfucker ain’t safe nowhere!
– Cable car conductor
Congressman Weaver and esteemed members of the Special Armed Services Committee, I come before you to protest a grave injustice… It has to stop.
– General Hummel